If there’s magic in the relationships between humans and dogs, it might be that mysterious interdependence, the ways in which we sometimes need our dogs greatly,,and some of them can read that and become the dogs we need. In this way, they steady us, buoy us, especially in dark times.

                                                Jon Katz  “Soul of a Dog”

 

I suspect…that a deep love and empathy for animals...is a random, almost reckless gift from God to a privileged few who throughout their lives honor the Gift. The Gift does not come without a price, to be sure. For it is accompanied by the burden of seeing innocent animals who suffer at the hands of pitiless people…and the crushing blows of losing special pets. But in repayment, the gift returns a wealth of rewards from the animals that enrich our lives-rewards that are unnecessary for me to list here, for those who share the Gift already know, and those who don’t, wouldn’t understand anyway.  

                                                         Bruce Coston D.V.M. “Ask the Animals”

 

To me, animals have all the traits indicative of soul. For soul is not something we can see or measure…no one can prove that animals have souls…Some truths simply cannot be demonstrated. But if we open our hearts to other creatures and allow ourselves to sympathize with their joys and struggles, we will find they have the power to touch and transform us. There is an inwardness in other creatures that awakens what is innermost in ourselves.                                                          Gary Kowalski “The Soul of Animals”

 

Researchers are amassing evidence about what animals can think, sense, and do, but so are the rest of us…I have stories to tell. I want to explore that mysterious, powerful space where animal and human link and affect one another. Perhaps these stories will help people reach some clarity of their own about the spirits, souls, and meanings of dogs and other animals in their lives.       Jon Katz “Soul of a Dog”

 

Every dog is unique, and so is our relationship with him or her. We each know our dog in a different way, in the context of how we live or work with them, what they mean to us, how our own lives have shaped our perceptions of them. If no tow dogs are exactly alike, neither is there a universal relationship with them…One of the wonders of the human-dog experience, often lost in generalizations from gurus and “experts”, is that each relationship is one of individual experience and meaning.                Jon Katz “Soul of a Dog”

 

I can see why so many people find almost ludicrous the idea that dogs lack souls and might therefore be barred from the afterlife. God made them, after all. God loves us, and we love dogs.      Jon Katz  “Soul of a Dog”

 

 I think we turn so much to our pets because they remind us of our deeper nature, of what is truly important. And also in a strange way of what we can be. They rest us deeply and give us sudden joys that we have forgotten.

                                                        Jean Houston

 

There is no faith which has never yet been broken, except that of a truly faithful dog.                                                         Konrad Lorenz

 

By ethical conduct toward all creatures, we enter into a spiritual relationship with the universe                                                Albert Schweitzer

  

Perhaps that is part of the animal’s role among us, to awaken humility, to turn our minds back to the mystery of things, and open our hearts to that most impractical of hopes in which all creation speaks as one     Matthew Scully “Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy”

 

In the autumn of my life, I am fighting for my life, still and forever, and at each struggle, each turning point, a dog has appeared to take me where I needed to go, and to keep my spirits strong.         Jon Katz

 

I’ve come to believe that our encounters with certain animals can, at times,  mark journeys of the soul; they may even accompany us on them.  Jon Katz        

 

What animals know or think or want falls into that gray zone amid what religion preaches, what science shows, and what we see with our own eyes and believe. Mystery may be the greatest gift my animals provide: It keeps me humble; it evokes the potential of life. It’s enthralling sometimes to wonder and not know, to be reminded of the profoundly limited knowledge of arrogant and destructive human beings.   Jon Katz

 

Students of the human-dog relationship have long understood that dogs are outlets for our affection, reflections of our own emotions, and these are the reasons we treat them so uniquely in a society where detachment is commonplace.   Jon Katz

 

The pairing of a human a d a dog is a journey of two souls, a powerful act of connection in a culture where connection is often difficult. What makes our relationship unique in all the animal world is the degree to which our two species are willing, eager, to attach to each other.    Jon Katz       “Training and Living with Dogs”

 

When it comes to teaching and guiding our dogs, the overwhelming majority of us do a poor job. We blame them, yet they are blameless-and helpless. There is much talk in the dog universe these days about treating dogs in more egalitarian ways, more like humans. But can any relationship be equal when one party is totally dependent on the other for it’s food and shelter, its literal survival? The responsibility and obligation is ours, not theirs. We need to ask more of ourselves.             Jon Katz “Training and Living with Dogs”

 

Is it true that there is a silly school which holds that a dog has no memory? I wonder how they arrived at that staggering generality? If they said it about me, it would be more to the point.              John Steinbeck                                 

CONTINUED,    MORE ANIMAL QUOTATIONS